Some of my reasons for low expectations from certain companies: Turbine - their games have poor graphics, stability, and a really bland art style. They never seem to innovate but instead copy from concepts that succeed in other games and simplify them more than necessary.
Lol, do you even know what you are talking about?
I won't discuss art style, because thats subjective. But Turbine is one of the founders of the Genre, they practically invented half of the concepts that you see in modern MMO's.
And last i've checked, Lotro had one of the most beautiful graphics of any MMO.
Bren, We both are saying similar things, but I am not parroting what you think you are saying. Calling people stupid is way overboard, especially when you chose to wear blinders. On top of that you keep linking boycott with a something else. Avoiding a company that has continually put out shit games, or even decent games and then screwed them up due to lack of quality leadership isn't a boycott. There comes a point when it is just smarter to walk away until that company proves they have turned things around. Then maybe they are worth looking at again. Yes that is based on the company who made the game and if you look close you will see that there are trends. If that is what the company has a track record of doing and nothing has changed with the people running the company then odds are pretty good the same thing will happen again. Those companies need to give solid reasons to come back and give them a chance again. Putting out something that looks decent is a step in the right direction, but it doesn't change much if that wasn't the problem to begin with. There are plenty of games that had rock star potential at first, but were ruined long after they released. You can call that a boycott if you like, but I find it irrational to expect change where change is most likely not to occur as can be seen by a clear pattern of actions from a company. Spending money and far more importantly time on a game based on some blind hope that a company has somehow turned around is foolish if you ask me. Honestly I have better things to do than waste time./money and blindly hope something has changed. I do hope things change and I can find a product worth become a customer of them once again, but I don't hold my expect it.
As for EA and SOE laughing, ok. I don't see either company doing that well with their current mmos, but if you think losing hundreds and hundreds of thousands of subscribers is what makes developers laugh at people not giving them money anymore.. well I guess that shows how much differently we see the world.
Well you are not seeing what I am saying at all. I'm not saying that you should be totally blind to a companies practices. Not at all. The people I say are stupid are the ones that see a game is from SOE, EA, Mythic, Blizzard or whatever company and decide that they won't even consider a new game by them without even seeing what the new game is. In other words they base their entire buying decision on the company and don't even consider the game at all. The game is just dismissed entirely as soon as they see the company logo on it. Not only do they totally dismiss the game usually but they also use it as an excuse to go and troll the game's forums with all kinds of anti-company crap even though they know absolutely nothing about the game they are mocking. These are the people that I consider stupid as the only ones they are hurting is themselves as they are potentially missing out on some great games.
As for Sony or EA losing hundreds of thousands of subscribers... I think that is a bit of an exaggeration as they would have had to have that many in the first place to lose. SWG at its peak may have had 100-150k subs tops and I don't think EA has had a game top 100k in concurrent subs yet. You guys aren't hurting these big companies even a little bit with your boycotts especially Sony as they have their hands in just about everything electronics or computers. Even if SOE did take a hit Sony would easily make it up elsewhere.
Edit: Oh and when you make statements like, "I'll never buy a game from that company again!" that is the very definition of 'boycott'. Also 'boycott' is the exact word that the OP used to start this discussion in the first place.
Originally posted by Brenelael As for Sony or EA losing hundreds of thousands of subscribers... I think that is a bit of an exaggeration as they would have had to have that many in the first place to lose. SWG at its peak may have had 100-150k subs tops and I don't think EA has had a game top 100k in concurrent subs yet. You guys aren't hurting these big companies even a little bit with your boycotts especially Sony as they have their hands in just about everything electronics or computers. Even if SOE did take a hit Sony would easily make it up elsewhere.
I am pretty sure I understand what you are saying about the decision process and have to agree to disagree with you. There is a lot of venting when people say things like "I will never buy a game from X company again". If nothing changes with the company than they are right and not stupid. Companies need to give "boycotters" a reason to change their mind. Players giving companies unlimited chances is not going to fix what the problem is.
As for SOE and EA not losing hundreds of thousands of subscribers, again you don't seem to grasp the entire picture. SWG had over 300k users at one point and that came from SOE. EQ over 550k, EQ2 over 300k. All around the same time which is close to 1 million subs from just their 3 big games. Just considering the amount of servers soe has closed/merged/transfered players off of, I don't think SOE is laughing right now at anything.
EA [mythic] had over 800k subscribers as stated in one of their financial reports. The next financial report stated 300k subs and there have been many more server mergers prior to that. I don't think EA is laughing at anything related to how warhammer turned out.
Funcom. It started with Anarchy Online, my favorite MMO. It took them six months or so to get into a decent state after launch. At the time it was still a new genre so this kind of thing happened, technological or network hiccups it was pretty commonplace among mmos. Then came the expansions, each one half finished but still delivering promises of a complete experience. Shadowlands launch, most of the post 200 content was unaccessable. Alien Invasion launch, no player shops and buggy aliens. That's where I stopped. Age of Conan gets released, no DX10 support and a myriad of other unfulfilled promises. Deliver what's listed on the box.
SOE and EA have definately made my "do not buy" list, just for a decades long history of disregard for and mistreatment of the customer base. Even when the games are good the CS is abyssmal.
Funcom is nearing the list because of its perpetual habit of releasing horrifically buggy code only to patch it and fix it way later.
sony for sure won't get another dime out of me , as long as they have the monthly fee + cash shops in their games. one or the other not this double fisting shit they got going on now. HORRIBLE customer service hands down worst i've delt with. i remember in EQOA (back when it was still doing well) sending in tickets and getting no reply for months, some i never got a response to this day on years later.
The term "blacklist" is kinda harsh but appropriate in some cases.
People and companies change. If incompetent or arrogant companies decide to get with the program then I will gladly accept their change of heart as they have matured for the better.
Typically I have a very very long fuze and will make my complaints known in strong unmistakable terms. I will put up with a company's problems long after others have jumped ship. By the time I give up hope and leave it's gotten so bad it's obvious those in charge have decided to be losers. They can stew in their own juices and get humble or die but they'll do it without me.
SOE, EA, Funcom - Basicly in that order for distrust. I wouldnt trust any company EA buys out. either, that includes bioware and their kotor rpg (yes i called it an rpg because its instances+single player).
Sony, Mythic, Funcom, ANYTHING with an Atari label on it. EA is up there too.
To be honest, this past 6 or so years of miserable game failures and bait and switches by various game companies just makes me wait until a game is out for 2-3 months and well written reviews are available. Screw pre orders. My money's a little more important than rushing to be one of those that are "first on the block" with a steaming heap of crap.
I am pretty sure I understand what you are saying about the decision process and have to agree to disagree with you. There is a lot of venting when people say things like "I will never buy a game from X company again". If nothing changes with the company than they are right and not stupid. Companies need to give "boycotters" a reason to change their mind. Players giving companies unlimited chances is not going to fix what the problem is.
Ok, I'll agree to disagree. I'll even go as far as to say that the term 'stupid' may be a little harsh on my part.
The people I say are stupid are the ones that see a game is from SOE, EA, Mythic, Blizzard or whatever company and decide that they won't even consider a new game by them without even seeing what the new game is. In other words they base their entire buying decision on the company and don't even consider the game at all. The game is just dismissed entirely as soon as they see the company logo on it. Not only do they totally dismiss the game usually but they also use it as an excuse to go and troll the game's forums with all kinds of anti-company crap even though they know absolutely nothing about the game they are mocking. These are the people that I consider stupid as the only ones they are hurting is themselves as they are potentially missing out on some great games.
I'm another anti-SOE person. Your argument is that people should consider a game on its own merits, not just the developer's/publisher's history -- and when it comes to single-player games, I tend to agree with you.
Unfortunately, MMORPGs can be ruined at any stage in their continually ongoing development, and Star Wars Galaxies is the classic example of that. SOE purposely raped it in a vain attempt to clone World of Warcraft, knowingly screwing over loyal customers whom they knew would hate the new changes. Personally, I don't want to be playing an awesome MMORPG for a year, then have it screwed up by a company with a rich history of making terrible decisions. I'd rather not have played the game to begin with if it's destined for ruin.
Moreover, there's nothing wrong with boycotting games and products you'd otherwise enjoy because you disapprove of the company that makes them. Computer games are entertainment; it's not earth-shattering if someone plays a different game instead, or reads a book, or watches some television, etc. One person's "wallet vote" may not make a big difference, but it's really the principle of the thing, and enough "wallet votes" can make a difference. As consumers, it's our only meaningful tool of protest.
Your opinion is not the only one, it's not the only correct one, and the people who disagree with you aren't stupid. Only jackasses believe that people who disagree with them must be stupid.
Currently Playing: EVE Online Retired From: UO, FFXI, AO, SWG, Ryzom, GW, WoW, WAR
The people I say are stupid are the ones that see a game is from SOE, EA, Mythic, Blizzard or whatever company and decide that they won't even consider a new game by them without even seeing what the new game is. In other words they base their entire buying decision on the company and don't even consider the game at all. The game is just dismissed entirely as soon as they see the company logo on it. Not only do they totally dismiss the game usually but they also use it as an excuse to go and troll the game's forums with all kinds of anti-company crap even though they know absolutely nothing about the game they are mocking. These are the people that I consider stupid as the only ones they are hurting is themselves as they are potentially missing out on some great games.
I'm another anti-SOE person. Your argument is that people should consider a game on its own merits, not just the developer's/publisher's history -- and when it comes to single-player games, I tend to agree with you.
Unfortunately, MMORPGs can be ruined at any stage in their continually ongoing development, and Star Wars Galaxies is the classic example of that. SOE purposely raped it in a vain attempt to clone World of Warcraft, knowingly screwing over loyal customers whom they knew would hate the new changes. Personally, I don't want to be playing an awesome MMORPG for a year, then have it screwed up by a company with a rich history of making terrible decisions. I'd rather not have played the game to begin with if it's destined for ruin.
Moreover, there's nothing wrong with boycotting games and products you'd otherwise enjoy because you disapprove of the company that makes them. Computer games are entertainment; it's not earth-shattering if someone plays a different game instead, or reads a book, or watches some television, etc. One person's "wallet vote" may not make a big difference, but it's really the principle of the thing, and enough "wallet votes" can make a difference. As consumers, it's our only meaningful tool of protest.
Your opinion is not the only one, it's not the only correct one, and the people who disagree with you aren't stupid. Only jackasses believe that people who disagree with them must be stupid.
Exactly. We have to vote with our dollar; it's the only vote we have. SOE might make an amazing game, but I just don't trust them. (I never played SWG, it never appealed to me. I just think they generally make bad decisions.)
"There are two great powers, and they've been fighting since time began. Every advance in human life, every scrap of knowledge and wisdom and decency we have has been torn by one side from the teeth of the other. Every little increase in human freedom has been fought over ferociously between those who want us to know more and be wiser and stronger, and those who want us to obey and be humble and submit."
John Parry, to his son Will; "The Subtle Knife," by Phillip Pullman
Bren, We both are saying similar things, but I am not parroting what you think you are saying. Calling people stupid is way overboard, especially when you chose to wear blinders. On top of that you keep linking boycott with a something else. Avoiding a company that has continually put out shit games, or even decent games and then screwed them up due to lack of quality leadership isn't a boycott. There comes a point when it is just smarter to walk away until that company proves they have turned things around. Then maybe they are worth looking at again. Yes that is based on the company who made the game and if you look close you will see that there are trends. If that is what the company has a track record of doing and nothing has changed with the people running the company then odds are pretty good the same thing will happen again. Those companies need to give solid reasons to come back and give them a chance again. Putting out something that looks decent is a step in the right direction, but it doesn't change much if that wasn't the problem to begin with. There are plenty of games that had rock star potential at first, but were ruined long after they released. You can call that a boycott if you like, but I find it irrational to expect change where change is most likely not to occur as can be seen by a clear pattern of actions from a company. Spending money and far more importantly time on a game based on some blind hope that a company has somehow turned around is foolish if you ask me. Honestly I have better things to do than waste time./money and blindly hope something has changed. I do hope things change and I can find a product worth become a customer of them once again, but I don't hold my expect it.
As for EA and SOE laughing, ok. I don't see either company doing that well with their current mmos, but if you think losing hundreds and hundreds of thousands of subscribers is what makes developers laugh at people not giving them money anymore.. well I guess that shows how much differently we see the world.
Well you are not seeing what I am saying at all. I'm not saying that you should be totally blind to a companies practices. Not at all. The people I say are stupid are the ones that see a game is from SOE, EA, Mythic, Blizzard or whatever company and decide that they won't even consider a new game by them without even seeing what the new game is. In other words they base their entire buying decision on the company and don't even consider the game at all. The game is just dismissed entirely as soon as they see the company logo on it. Not only do they totally dismiss the game usually but they also use it as an excuse to go and troll the game's forums with all kinds of anti-company crap even though they know absolutely nothing about the game they are mocking. These are the people that I consider stupid as the only ones they are hurting is themselves as they are potentially missing out on some great games.
As for Sony or EA losing hundreds of thousands of subscribers... I think that is a bit of an exaggeration as they would have had to have that many in the first place to lose. SWG at its peak may have had 100-150k subs tops and I don't think EA has had a game top 100k in concurrent subs yet. You guys aren't hurting these big companies even a little bit with your boycotts especially Sony as they have their hands in just about everything electronics or computers. Even if SOE did take a hit Sony would easily make it up elsewhere.
Edit: Oh and when you make statements like, "I'll never buy a game from that company again!" that is the very definition of 'boycott'. Also 'boycott' is the exact word that the OP used to start this discussion in the first place.
Bren
Well, the actual point and purpose of my thread was no more than the wording of the original post. No hidden meaning... no ulterior motive. Just wanted to see "who" in particular would show up more often, and honestly I was surprised to see SOE at the top.
But since the thread was hijacked from the original purpose, I'll play along. Leodious said "Exactly. We have to vote with our dollar; it's the only vote we have." Money talks. It's the reason developers/publishers (for the most part nowadays) make or back games in the first place.
Ooooh let's take a giant for example... 9/9/99 ring a bell? Dreamcast launch. 2001? Dreamcast hardware discontinued because they were "faced with debt and competition from Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft" as stated by Wikipedia, and became a third-party developer.
Earth and Beyond, developed by Westwood Studios and backed by EA was released September 24, 2002, and shut down by EA on September 22, 2004 saying they "would refocus on other projects."
Hellgate: London was released on October 31, 2007 developed by Flagship Studios and backed by EA. In Wikipedia it states, "In 2008 Flagship Studios filed bankruptcy and all intellectual property was seized because it was used as collateral for funding received from Comerica Bank" On February 1, 2009, online play and support was shut down.
November 2, 2007 Tabula Rasa was released designed by Richard Garriott whos name was more than enough to sell the game by itself and supported by NCsoft, closed down it's servers on 28 February 2009, stating "a lower than expected in-game population as the major factor for the decision."
Those are just a few examples where apparently people were not pleased with the direction things were going, and didn't spend their money towards it. Dollar Voting, supporting the idea as "to engage in a concerted refusal to have dealings with (as a person, store, or organization) usually to express disapproval or to force acceptance of certain conditions" otherwise known as a boycott.
With todays microeconomic standards people tend to get tired of paying $50-$75 for hype that they know nothing about if they couldn't get into beta (even though beta is not a representative of final product). If you didn't get into the beta or there wasn't an open beta, then usually it took six months or so for "Free X-Day Trials" to pop up or sooner if the games sales were tanking hard for whatever reason. On the other hand, the game may be excellent in fitting the consumers reason for purchasing... and then the game's development or focus is completely changed. This doesn't really happen to much else with anything else that we as consumers purchase. Only one I can really think of is when the new formula for "New Coke!" was introduced, and even then the "vocal minority" were able to have them switch back to "Classic"... but I digress.
But anyways, this thread was originally about... well go look at the first post. While you've had some valid points, they are not pertinent to the question the thread was about. If you are so inclined to speak out about it, please go make a new thread and post your ideas and thoughts. There is more than enough room to do so on these boards. Thank you.
"There is only one thing of which I am certain, and that's nothing is certain."
Guess I have no morals when it comes to who I buy games from. If the owner of "Evil Games Corp X" released 10 years worth of crap games, bought all the games I currently like and turned them into crap, then went to my Grandma's house and stole the last of her food stamps, and the next day released a game I thought I might like, I'd buy it.
I'd buy games from Al-Qaeda if I thought they might be any good.
Station Exchange after all the bs about how bad gold farmers and RMT's were for their games. The SWG CU-NGE. Smedley....He's a piece of work to say the least and as long as he has any say on any of their games, I won't even look at them.
Limitless Horizons/Loud Ant .....Mourning, nuff said!
Einherjar_LC says: WTB the true successor to UO or Asheron's Call pst!
SOE. Sorry Sony, but you had a place appealing to alot of people. Not the numbers who enjoy WoW, so it was a risky but acceptable business move to make SWG into WoW with Jedis. Just isn't something those affected can forgive, which i'm sure you'll understand. Losing good friends,great enemies and a place that felt like a second home doesn't go down too well with people.
Comments
Lol, do you even know what you are talking about?
I won't discuss art style, because thats subjective. But Turbine is one of the founders of the Genre, they practically invented half of the concepts that you see in modern MMO's.
And last i've checked, Lotro had one of the most beautiful graphics of any MMO.
Gameforge ==>Ogame
They have the worst admins and customer service reps ever. They dont care about problems/bugs in the game, but want your money.
Well you are not seeing what I am saying at all. I'm not saying that you should be totally blind to a companies practices. Not at all. The people I say are stupid are the ones that see a game is from SOE, EA, Mythic, Blizzard or whatever company and decide that they won't even consider a new game by them without even seeing what the new game is. In other words they base their entire buying decision on the company and don't even consider the game at all. The game is just dismissed entirely as soon as they see the company logo on it. Not only do they totally dismiss the game usually but they also use it as an excuse to go and troll the game's forums with all kinds of anti-company crap even though they know absolutely nothing about the game they are mocking. These are the people that I consider stupid as the only ones they are hurting is themselves as they are potentially missing out on some great games.
As for Sony or EA losing hundreds of thousands of subscribers... I think that is a bit of an exaggeration as they would have had to have that many in the first place to lose. SWG at its peak may have had 100-150k subs tops and I don't think EA has had a game top 100k in concurrent subs yet. You guys aren't hurting these big companies even a little bit with your boycotts especially Sony as they have their hands in just about everything electronics or computers. Even if SOE did take a hit Sony would easily make it up elsewhere.
Edit: Oh and when you make statements like, "I'll never buy a game from that company again!" that is the very definition of 'boycott'. Also 'boycott' is the exact word that the OP used to start this discussion in the first place.
Bren
while(horse==dead)
{
beat();
}
SOE
Pretty much wont have any thing to do with this company
Joymax. And when I say Joymax, I'm 100% sure every ex-Silkroad player will agree.
I am pretty sure I understand what you are saying about the decision process and have to agree to disagree with you. There is a lot of venting when people say things like "I will never buy a game from X company again". If nothing changes with the company than they are right and not stupid. Companies need to give "boycotters" a reason to change their mind. Players giving companies unlimited chances is not going to fix what the problem is.
As for SOE and EA not losing hundreds of thousands of subscribers, again you don't seem to grasp the entire picture. SWG had over 300k users at one point and that came from SOE. EQ over 550k, EQ2 over 300k. All around the same time which is close to 1 million subs from just their 3 big games. Just considering the amount of servers soe has closed/merged/transfered players off of, I don't think SOE is laughing right now at anything.
EA [mythic] had over 800k subscribers as stated in one of their financial reports. The next financial report stated 300k subs and there have been many more server mergers prior to that. I don't think EA is laughing at anything related to how warhammer turned out.
Funcom. It started with Anarchy Online, my favorite MMO. It took them six months or so to get into a decent state after launch. At the time it was still a new genre so this kind of thing happened, technological or network hiccups it was pretty commonplace among mmos. Then came the expansions, each one half finished but still delivering promises of a complete experience. Shadowlands launch, most of the post 200 content was unaccessable. Alien Invasion launch, no player shops and buggy aliens. That's where I stopped. Age of Conan gets released, no DX10 support and a myriad of other unfulfilled promises. Deliver what's listed on the box.
SOE and EA have definately made my "do not buy" list, just for a decades long history of disregard for and mistreatment of the customer base. Even when the games are good the CS is abyssmal.
Funcom is nearing the list because of its perpetual habit of releasing horrifically buggy code only to patch it and fix it way later.
Funcom and Turbine.
sony for sure won't get another dime out of me , as long as they have the monthly fee + cash shops in their games. one or the other not this double fisting shit they got going on now. HORRIBLE customer service hands down worst i've delt with. i remember in EQOA (back when it was still doing well) sending in tickets and getting no reply for months, some i never got a response to this day on years later.
The term "blacklist" is kinda harsh but appropriate in some cases.
People and companies change. If incompetent or arrogant companies decide to get with the program then I will gladly accept their change of heart as they have matured for the better.
Typically I have a very very long fuze and will make my complaints known in strong unmistakable terms. I will put up with a company's problems long after others have jumped ship. By the time I give up hope and leave it's gotten so bad it's obvious those in charge have decided to be losers. They can stew in their own juices and get humble or die but they'll do it without me.
SOE, EA, Funcom - Basicly in that order for distrust. I wouldnt trust any company EA buys out. either, that includes bioware and their kotor rpg (yes i called it an rpg because its instances+single player).
F A I L C O M
SOE.
Sony, Mythic, Funcom, ANYTHING with an Atari label on it. EA is up there too.
To be honest, this past 6 or so years of miserable game failures and bait and switches by various game companies just makes me wait until a game is out for 2-3 months and well written reviews are available. Screw pre orders. My money's a little more important than rushing to be one of those that are "first on the block" with a steaming heap of crap.
Ok, I'll agree to disagree. I'll even go as far as to say that the term 'stupid' may be a little harsh on my part.
Bren
while(horse==dead)
{
beat();
}
I'm another anti-SOE person. Your argument is that people should consider a game on its own merits, not just the developer's/publisher's history -- and when it comes to single-player games, I tend to agree with you.
Unfortunately, MMORPGs can be ruined at any stage in their continually ongoing development, and Star Wars Galaxies is the classic example of that. SOE purposely raped it in a vain attempt to clone World of Warcraft, knowingly screwing over loyal customers whom they knew would hate the new changes. Personally, I don't want to be playing an awesome MMORPG for a year, then have it screwed up by a company with a rich history of making terrible decisions. I'd rather not have played the game to begin with if it's destined for ruin.
Moreover, there's nothing wrong with boycotting games and products you'd otherwise enjoy because you disapprove of the company that makes them. Computer games are entertainment; it's not earth-shattering if someone plays a different game instead, or reads a book, or watches some television, etc. One person's "wallet vote" may not make a big difference, but it's really the principle of the thing, and enough "wallet votes" can make a difference. As consumers, it's our only meaningful tool of protest.
Your opinion is not the only one, it's not the only correct one, and the people who disagree with you aren't stupid. Only jackasses believe that people who disagree with them must be stupid.
Currently Playing: EVE Online
Retired From: UO, FFXI, AO, SWG, Ryzom, GW, WoW, WAR
I'm another anti-SOE person. Your argument is that people should consider a game on its own merits, not just the developer's/publisher's history -- and when it comes to single-player games, I tend to agree with you.
Unfortunately, MMORPGs can be ruined at any stage in their continually ongoing development, and Star Wars Galaxies is the classic example of that. SOE purposely raped it in a vain attempt to clone World of Warcraft, knowingly screwing over loyal customers whom they knew would hate the new changes. Personally, I don't want to be playing an awesome MMORPG for a year, then have it screwed up by a company with a rich history of making terrible decisions. I'd rather not have played the game to begin with if it's destined for ruin.
Moreover, there's nothing wrong with boycotting games and products you'd otherwise enjoy because you disapprove of the company that makes them. Computer games are entertainment; it's not earth-shattering if someone plays a different game instead, or reads a book, or watches some television, etc. One person's "wallet vote" may not make a big difference, but it's really the principle of the thing, and enough "wallet votes" can make a difference. As consumers, it's our only meaningful tool of protest.
Your opinion is not the only one, it's not the only correct one, and the people who disagree with you aren't stupid. Only jackasses believe that people who disagree with them must be stupid.
Exactly. We have to vote with our dollar; it's the only vote we have. SOE might make an amazing game, but I just don't trust them. (I never played SWG, it never appealed to me. I just think they generally make bad decisions.)
"There are two great powers, and they've been fighting since time began. Every advance in human life, every scrap of knowledge and wisdom and decency we have has been torn by one side from the teeth of the other. Every little increase in human freedom has been fought over ferociously between those who want us to know more and be wiser and stronger, and those who want us to obey and be humble and submit."
John Parry, to his son Will; "The Subtle Knife," by Phillip Pullman
Well you are not seeing what I am saying at all. I'm not saying that you should be totally blind to a companies practices. Not at all. The people I say are stupid are the ones that see a game is from SOE, EA, Mythic, Blizzard or whatever company and decide that they won't even consider a new game by them without even seeing what the new game is. In other words they base their entire buying decision on the company and don't even consider the game at all. The game is just dismissed entirely as soon as they see the company logo on it. Not only do they totally dismiss the game usually but they also use it as an excuse to go and troll the game's forums with all kinds of anti-company crap even though they know absolutely nothing about the game they are mocking. These are the people that I consider stupid as the only ones they are hurting is themselves as they are potentially missing out on some great games.
As for Sony or EA losing hundreds of thousands of subscribers... I think that is a bit of an exaggeration as they would have had to have that many in the first place to lose. SWG at its peak may have had 100-150k subs tops and I don't think EA has had a game top 100k in concurrent subs yet. You guys aren't hurting these big companies even a little bit with your boycotts especially Sony as they have their hands in just about everything electronics or computers. Even if SOE did take a hit Sony would easily make it up elsewhere.
Edit: Oh and when you make statements like, "I'll never buy a game from that company again!" that is the very definition of 'boycott'. Also 'boycott' is the exact word that the OP used to start this discussion in the first place.
Bren
Well, the actual point and purpose of my thread was no more than the wording of the original post. No hidden meaning... no ulterior motive. Just wanted to see "who" in particular would show up more often, and honestly I was surprised to see SOE at the top.
But since the thread was hijacked from the original purpose, I'll play along. Leodious said "Exactly. We have to vote with our dollar; it's the only vote we have." Money talks. It's the reason developers/publishers (for the most part nowadays) make or back games in the first place.
Ooooh let's take a giant for example... 9/9/99 ring a bell? Dreamcast launch. 2001? Dreamcast hardware discontinued because they were "faced with debt and competition from Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft" as stated by Wikipedia, and became a third-party developer.
Earth and Beyond, developed by Westwood Studios and backed by EA was released September 24, 2002, and shut down by EA on September 22, 2004 saying they "would refocus on other projects."
Hellgate: London was released on October 31, 2007 developed by Flagship Studios and backed by EA. In Wikipedia it states, "In 2008 Flagship Studios filed bankruptcy and all intellectual property was seized because it was used as collateral for funding received from Comerica Bank" On February 1, 2009, online play and support was shut down.
November 2, 2007 Tabula Rasa was released designed by Richard Garriott whos name was more than enough to sell the game by itself and supported by NCsoft, closed down it's servers on 28 February 2009, stating "a lower than expected in-game population as the major factor for the decision."
Those are just a few examples where apparently people were not pleased with the direction things were going, and didn't spend their money towards it. Dollar Voting, supporting the idea as "to engage in a concerted refusal to have dealings with (as a person, store, or organization) usually to express disapproval or to force acceptance of certain conditions" otherwise known as a boycott.
With todays microeconomic standards people tend to get tired of paying $50-$75 for hype that they know nothing about if they couldn't get into beta (even though beta is not a representative of final product). If you didn't get into the beta or there wasn't an open beta, then usually it took six months or so for "Free X-Day Trials" to pop up or sooner if the games sales were tanking hard for whatever reason. On the other hand, the game may be excellent in fitting the consumers reason for purchasing... and then the game's development or focus is completely changed. This doesn't really happen to much else with anything else that we as consumers purchase. Only one I can really think of is when the new formula for "New Coke!" was introduced, and even then the "vocal minority" were able to have them switch back to "Classic"... but I digress.
But anyways, this thread was originally about... well go look at the first post. While you've had some valid points, they are not pertinent to the question the thread was about. If you are so inclined to speak out about it, please go make a new thread and post your ideas and thoughts. There is more than enough room to do so on these boards. Thank you.
"There is only one thing of which I am certain, and that's nothing is certain."
Guess I have no morals when it comes to who I buy games from. If the owner of "Evil Games Corp X" released 10 years worth of crap games, bought all the games I currently like and turned them into crap, then went to my Grandma's house and stole the last of her food stamps, and the next day released a game I thought I might like, I'd buy it.
I'd buy games from Al-Qaeda if I thought they might be any good.
Definitely Funcom. Gave them two chances and two hardware setups and that game was still unplayable.
I usually balance positive and negative concerning games but I think the time has past on giving them a pass.
Besides that it will probably be Turbine. Shutting down AC2 and lacking fun soloing in LOTRO, at the time, turned me away.
If AC2 were restored I might give them my attention again.
On Sony I greatly mistrust them but don’t think I’m at boycott level yet. Maybe that is.
AC2 Player RIP Final Death Jan 31st 2017
Refugee of Auberean
Refugee of Dereth
SoE without a doubt.
Station Exchange after all the bs about how bad gold farmers and RMT's were for their games. The SWG CU-NGE. Smedley....He's a piece of work to say the least and as long as he has any say on any of their games, I won't even look at them.
Limitless Horizons/Loud Ant .....Mourning, nuff said!
Einherjar_LC says: WTB the true successor to UO or Asheron's Call pst!
SOE. Sorry Sony, but you had a place appealing to alot of people. Not the numbers who enjoy WoW, so it was a risky but acceptable business move to make SWG into WoW with Jedis. Just isn't something those affected can forgive, which i'm sure you'll understand. Losing good friends,great enemies and a place that felt like a second home doesn't go down too well with people.
I find it funny how everyone keeps mentioning every MMO developing company in their list.
And considering all the WoW hate I didn't see a lot of Blizzard mentioned.
Many people are never buying an MMO again, based on some of these lists people make.